And, by the way, Dick Van Dyke's fake London accent makes the song "Shtep in time".

Does anybody remember the "Worst Film Accents" list a few years ago? Not having been to London, I can't tell if Dick Van Dyke's is realistic or not (he got #2), but when I saw Charlton Heston on the list I said, "What accent?!" He plays a cop from Mexico in "Touch of Evil," but he didn't seem to even attempt an accent, just sounded average-American (ie, USA-America). Came close to ruining the movie for me.

What a great list! I love the one about Sean Connery in Untouchables... but where on earth is Kevin Costner in Robin Hood? Not a good English accent...

And by the way, as a Londoner myself I can safely say that Dick Van Dyke's London accent was horrendous!

Bless him!

JERIC
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Posted:
Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:12 am Post subject:

Thanks for mentioning Kevin Costner in Robin Hood. We watched that again recently and noticed that.
Wow, this topic deserves it's own thread.

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j2brown
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Posted:
Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:33 am Post subject:

My friend always contended that in the time of Robin Hood the English accent that we know today didn't exist yet, so Mr Costner wasn't too far off (althought I'd guess that was by accident). I'm sure somebody here either knows the facts or can find them on their favorite search engine.

jeff
sdg

mellowman
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Posted:
Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:57 am Post subject:

So, j2, you're saying everyone else in the film had the wrong accent? The film with the most bad accents in history? What an accolade!

And Jeric, perhaps you ought to move this to it's own thread - I have a feeling it might go on and on....

Twopop
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Posted:
Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:07 pm Post subject:

Russian friends have told us that Sean Connery's accent in The Hunt for Red October is so poor, it's sometimes almost impossible to understand.

Sean Connery in Hunt for Red October too... it was funny hearing him trying to sound Russian.

In the commentary, the director mentioned that it was no secret that Connery was no linguist and that they re-worked the script to give him as few lines in Russian as possible. _________________"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens, makes her a home."
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mellowman
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Posted:
Sun Mar 26, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

My wife just came up with another one I hadn't thought about - Tom Cruise in Far And Away. I remember that being downright embarassing. What was Nicole Kidman's like in the same film? Can't remember her.

but where on earth is Kevin Costner in Robin Hood? Not a good English accent...

Mel Brooks made a joke about Costner's bad accent in Robin Hood: Men in Tights... the quote is from IMDb

Prince John (Richard Lewis): And why would the people listen to you?
Robin Hood (Cary Elwes): Because, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.
[referring to the then recent blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which Kevin Costner played the role with an American accent]

Frankly I cringe every time Costner try any accent... all of his attempts sound the same to me._________________"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

"The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children." ~ King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)

One time I actually met someone who had such a weird Cockney accent that it was more cartoonish than Dick Van Dyke.

As for Sean Connery, I pretty much accept that he's playing a character well, despite his inability to speak in any other accent than his own. I tried to wrap my head around the concept that Jim Malone was Irish, and Sean Connery was doing a bad Irish accent. It helps when you're seeing something where he's speaking Japanese. Domi arigato, lass.

Now, can someone tell me what kind of accent Halle Berry is attempting in X-Men?_________________When all else fails, consider time travel.

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One of my fave soundtracks is Fenton's Anna and the King, but imho the casting of Jody Foster as Anna was a disaster. Wrong look and -yikes- her forced English accent made it impossible to get into the story.

I just saw Young Guns. Charlie Sheen had the worst southern cowboy accent I've ever heard._________________"...Then, you think you see a glimmer of life in your monitor! Hope wells up until you realise that it is just the reflection of the shiny hammer in your upraised hand..."